There was no animosity between the sides this time, but it was still an engrossing game

Shashank Kishore21-Apr-20241:17

Tom Moody analyses Starc’s final over against RCB

KKR versus RCB at Eden Gardens is often an eventful contest.There was the infamous 49 all-out in 2017, and more recently ‘lord’ Shardul Thakur scored a brazen half-century to pull off a stunning rescue act.On a sweltering Sundary afternoon, KKR and RCB played out another memorable game in Kolkata, and though nearly 450 runs were scored it wasn’t your regular IPL run fest. In the end the contest was decided by… well, the barest of margins. With a wicketkeeper from England diving full length to break the stumps and run out a batter from New Zealand, who was attempting a second run off the final ball to take the match into a Super Over.The heartbreak was once again RCB’s to suffer as their season hurtles towards an early conclusion with their seventh loss in eight games. And yet, this hit different, because it was different from their feuds with KKR in the past.Only a month ago, KKR’s mentor Gautam Gambhir had said the “one team I wanted to beat every time and probably even in my dreams was RCB.” But there he was, on the eve of the match, displaying camaraderie for the second time this season with Virat Kohli, whom he has had several feisty altercations with in the IPL.Related

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The contest came alive nonetheless through Phil Salt’s salvo in the powerplay, RCB’s exceptional catching, and an exchange of blows that ensured that neither team stayed in control for too long. There was a flashpoint at the start of RCB’s chase when Kohli’s cameo – which included a no-look six off Mitchell Starc – was cut short by a high full toss that he felt should have been a no-ball, but the flaring of tempers died down once it was clear the decision was based on technology and not human intervention.A 102-run stand for RCB’s third wicket between Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar threatened to decide the game far too early. An ask of the nature of 86 off 54 balls with eight wickets in hand should have been straightforward in this extremely high-scoring season, but it is rarely so between RCB and KKR. Four wickets in the space of two overs, and the visitors were reeling.Dinesh Karthik, who had scores of 53 not out and 83 in RCB’s most recent defeats, brought the game down to 31 off 12 balls. One big over away from ending a run of five successive defeats. A finishing test a day after he expressed his desire to play the 2024 T20 World Cup for India. But when Karthik fell for an 18-ball 25, RCB still needed 21 off the final over with only two wickets in hand.Mitchell Starc stood at the top of his mark. He’d been expensive all season and he’d gone for 36 in his first two overs on Sunday, but surely with Karn Sharma and Mohammed Siraj at the crease, the game was beyond RCB?Mohammed Siraj is distraught even as KKR celebrate their dramatic one-run win•BCCIOn a pitch where pace-off seemed the way to go, Starc trusted his Plan A: pace-on. He went full and he went fast, but he missed his lengths. The first ball of the final over to Karn was in the slot outside off stump and disappeared over the cover boundary. The second was similar too; this time it grazed the edge of Karn’s big swing but the TV umpire decided the ball had bounced just before Salt collected it behind the stumps.Yorker anybody? Or what about the bouncer? Sweat pouring off his face, his purple jersey clinging to his skin, Starc was on his haunches two balls in. He rose to deliver more of the same. Karn stayed inside his crease, cleared his front foot, and slammed the third and fourth deliveries over extra cover and point for sixes.With only three to get off two balls, and RCB’s hopes as high as they’d been all day, Starc found his length and delivered a yorker-length delivery. Karn connected with the toe of his bat and Starc bent down low to grab a sharp return catch with just one hand. Under pressure in oppressive conditions, he had managed to cling on when it mattered most.It seemed to have taken plenty out of Starc but he managed to bowl a tight last ball, yorker-length and tailing away as Lockie Ferguson squeezed it to deep cover. The throw to the wicketkeeper was poor and it took an outstanding take and dive from Salt to break the stumps and leave RCB one run short of where they needed to be.It was a strange contest, with 12 scores more than 15 but none higher than 55, the most in that range in any IPL game. And though it didn’t have the headline performance that lingers in the memory, it did have the fight and the finish to further embellish the RCB-KKR rivalry.

Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia came away with victories as the selectors watched closely

Andrew McGlashan24-Oct-20240:56

Steven Smith: ‘Bumrah is the complete bowler’

Openers stall

You may have noticed, but Australia’s specialist openers are not banging down the door. Marcus Harris dug in for two hours at the MCG but was then undone by Mitchell Starc. Cameron Bancroft’s nightmare start to the season continued and his returns now read 0, 0, 8 and 2 – three times caught behind nibbling outside off then top-edging to fine leg. Matt Renshaw collected 2 and 21 against South Australia. Sam Konstas showed some promising signs in the second innings against Victoria before giving it away against Todd Murphy. It’s hard to know who, if anyone, is leading the race.Related

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Steven Smith’s lean outing

We know he’s moving back to No. 4, but Steven Smith cut a frustrated figure at the MCG. Caught down the leg side off Fergus O’Neill in the first innings he was then less-than-impressed by the lbw decision against Scott Boland although there didn’t seem much wrong with it. “I actually felt pretty good out there, to be honest, for the 3 that I scored,” he said with a hint of a smile after the first innings. It now seems likely that the rest of Smith’s build-up to India will be against the white-ball with a One-Day Cup match against Victoria then the ODI series against Pakistan.

The McSweeney solution

Nathan McSweeney has made an excellent start to the season – scores of 55, 127 not out, 37 and 72 – to build on his success of last summer when runs were hard to come. He is certainly in the mix for Test selection; beyond who opens there will also need to be a spare batter in the squad. Despite the quick abort of Smith opening, there is a world where the selectors again go down the route of non-specialist which could open a space for McSweeney in the XI. He captains Australia A next week against India A.Nathan McSweeney has started the season strongly•Getty Images

Keepers flying

Might Australia’s most in-form player heading into the Test summer be their No. 7? Alex Carey is churning out the runs following his successful return to the ODI side in England last month. He has now crunched two centuries and a 90 in four innings this season. Remember he also finished the New Zealand series in March with an unbeaten 98. Talk about his form feels a long time ago. But he’s not the only gloveman in fine fettle.Josh Inglis has played superbly for Western Australia and, like Carey, has two hundreds in two matches. If you were looking at the best six or seven batters on form, he’d be there. There is recent precedent for Australia playing two wicketkeepers in their Test side: Matthew Wade featured alongside Tim Paine from 2019 to 2021, including during India’s last visit when he also opened the batting for two Tests.Josh Philippe (45 not out and 88) also continued his impressive start to the season on a tricky MCG pitch after the move to New South Wales and Jimmy Peirson (94) led a Queensland fight back against South Australia. Both are in the Australia A squad.

Starc looking good

Now, this looked encouraging. Mitchell Starc hit his straps at the MCG, finding swing at high pace. He could easily have had more than one wicket in the first innings then collected six in the second, although it wasn’t enough to turn things around for NSW. However, he produced some crackerjack deliveries and was gliding smoothly to the crease in his first red-ball outing since March. “Wickets aside, I think the rhythm was there,” Starc said. “I felt probably the best I have felt for a while actually. Across the two innings, it feels like it’s in a good spot.” In the last series at home against India he averaged 40.72 so will hope to improve on those numbers.Alex Carey has been prolific early in the summer•Getty Images

The ones we aren’t talking about (much) – Khawaja, Labuschagne, Marsh, Lyon

It’s easy to forget, given all the chatter, that most of Australia’s squad for the first Test is locked in. It was a relatively lean week for Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne (who is bowling a lot of medium-pace bouncers) although the pair made runs in the opening round. Mitchell Marsh fell cheaply twice against Tasmania and didn’t return to the bowling crease as he had previously suggested he would. Nathan Lyon got through another 41 overs of work against Victoria. In the same game, Boland finished with the fewest wickets of the home side’s quicks (three) but was shaking off the early-season rust nicely. His around-the-wicket spell to Nic Maddinson was classy. His likely challenger as the back-up Test quick, Michael Neser, picked up four wickets against South Australia while Sean Abbott produced a reminder that he should remain in the conversation. Nathan McAndrew may not be a million miles away, either.

What’s next?

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will feature for NSW in the One-Day Cup match against Victoria on Friday. Then the focus turns to the first Australia A vs India A match in Mackay which begins on October 31 and runs concurrently with the next round of Shield. Konstas, Harris, Bancroft and McSweeney are in the Australia A squad as is allrounder Beau Webster. Boland and Neser will also suit up in one of the matches. Of those left in Shield cricket, Renshaw and Maddinson will be in action in Sydney as NSW face Queensland. Lyon is expected to play that game, too, as his last outing before the Test series.

The game is moving from the Captain Roop Singh Stadium, the site of many memorable matches, to the shiny new Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium

Daya Sagar05-Oct-2024When an international cricket match was last held in Gwalior, Sachin Tendulkar scored the first double-century in men’s ODIs. Fourteen years after that historic game, international cricket is set to return to the Madhya Pradesh city.However, cricket is not back at the historic Captain Roop Singh Stadium but at the newly built Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium, where the first T20I between India and Bangladesh will be played on Sunday. The Captain Roop Singh Stadium, though, is inextricably linked to cricket in the city.When you arrive at the old stadium, located near the railway station in the heart of the city, it feels like you have arrived at a single-screen cinema hall in a small town. Built in the shape of a hexagon, it doesn’t look like a cricket stadium from the outside. There are no cricket-related hoardings, no floodlight towers visible from a distance.Related

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Once inside, there is a gallery that leads you past some offices and the scorecard featuring the details of Tendulkar’s historic knock. With the exception of some VVIP seats towards the pavilion end, all the seats – the stadium has a capacity of around 20,000 – are in the form of cement steps. At both ends stand small floodlights, erected in the lead-up to the 1996 World Cup.Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) scorer Sunil Gupta’s eyes light up as he recalls Tendulkar’s double-century. According to him, it feels like yesterday, when Tendulkar played Charl Langeveldt past point and achieved an “impossible historical feat”.”We couldn’t believe we had seen something that was almost impossible in one-day cricket at that time,” Gupta says. “This match was accidentally moved from Kanpur to Gwalior 20 days earlier. Our pitch and ground were ready, but international cricket requires a lot more preparation. Our association completed these preparations in a very short time and what happened after that, the whole world knows it now.”Gupta, who is a believer in destiny, says, “That is why it has been said that on every grain is written the name of the one who eats it. We were destined to watch the double-century of [God] and when he waved his helmet and bat in the air, many people, including me, had tears in their eyes. These were tears of joy.”The entrance to the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior•Daya Sagar/ESPNcricinfoThe stadium has played host to many other memorable ODIs too, including the India-West Indies match in the 1996 World Cup, the fourth India-Pakistan ODI in 2007, India’s win against Australia in the TVS Cup months after their 2003 World Cup final defeat to the same opposition, Kenya’s first win over India in an international match, and two ODIs against England in 1993 on consecutive days. The 1997 Ranji Trophy final was also held in this stadium, the only day-night Ranji Trophy final till date.”At times, this stadium has come in handy for the BCCI during crises,” Gupta says. “When the first India-England ODI was cancelled in Ahmedabad due to riots in 1993, two ODIs were held on this ground on two consecutive days. This is the only ground in the India where ODI matches have been held on consecutive days.”Apart from this, in 2010, when the preparations were not deemed to be complete in Kanpur, we were given an ODI match in a hurry. At the same time, when we did not have that much funds for the 1996 World Cup, we made smaller floodlights on three stands instead of four, so that day-night matches could be organised.”The stadium once hosted ODIs regularly, with a match every two or three years in the 1990s and 2000s. But as the facilities became dated, this stadium, which has hosted 12 ODIs, gradually faded into the background.The stadium belongs to the Gwalior Municipal Corporation, and was leased by the Gwalior Division Cricket Association (GDCA) for 25 years; the lease ends in 2025. So the MPCA decided to build its own stadium in Gwalior. Named after former BCCI president Madhavrao Scindia, plans for the new stadium were laid out in 2011 and it was completed in 2024 and inaugurated by BCCI secretary Jay Shah and former India captain Kapil Dev.Gwalior scorer Sunil Gupta with the scorecard from Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI double-century•Daya Sagar/ESPNcricinfoLocated on the outskirts of Gwalior, on around 30 acres of land near the Mumbai-Agra highway bypass, surrounded by the hills of Chambal, the new stadium has all the modern frills: towering floodlights, the latest drainage system, indoor-training facilities, plush dressing rooms, a separate practice ground, nine cricket pitches, a gym equipped with new machines, a TV broadcast control room, a closed and air-conditioned media centre, and PVC seats for spectators.But like the new stadium in Mullanpur in Punjab, the stadium is still open, with canopies for the stands to be installed only later. At present, the capacity is 30,000, with an increase to 50,000 planned by the MPCA. This is why there are exposed pillars on both sides of the square boundary – to allow for another round of construction later on.India vs Bangladesh will be the first top-level match at this stadium – not a single domestic match has been held here yet. In June this year, however, the Madhya Pradesh Premier League was held here and, in a total of 12 matches, a lot of runs were scored.How many runs are scored on Sunday remain to be seen, but off the field security will be tight. Prohibitory orders – aka Section 163 – have been imposed in the city, which means that more than five people cannot gather and hold any demonstration. The orders were passed after right-wing organisations called for a boycott of this match in the wake of media reports of violence on Hindus in Bangladesh. There had been similar calls for a boycott of the Kanpur Test.The effects of these developments are visible in the preparations for the match. The road to the stadium, which is located around 8km from the city, has already been blocked by a barricade at about the 4km mark, with only those working inside the stadium and the media allowed access to the stadium. Section 163 will remain in place even after the end of the match, until October 7, when both teams leave for Delhi for the second match of the series.For now, though, Gupta is happy that the cricket is back, after a 14-year “exile” from his city. He is ready to score another historic match in the annals of Gwalior cricket.

England’s range of standout players, and speed of turnaround from white-ball, augur well for Australia mission

Firdose Moonda17-Dec-20242:03

Heather Knight: SA Test win builds confidence for Ashes

No trees were ripped up but some seeds were planted, as England won their first Test in a decade before looking ahead to the women’s Ashes.Let’s be honest: while they’d never use the words warm-up, this multi-format series in South Africa was part of the preparation for next month’s Ashes, a series which England have not won for 10 years. Incidentally, that’s the same amount of time England had gone without a Test win until a memorable afternoon in Bloemfontein. So apart from cleaning up with series victories in the T20I and ODI contests (which included five out of six wins for England), the Test triumph tastes a little sweeter, because it shows England what they are capable of.”We take great confidence from it,” Knight said at the post-match press conference. “Whenever we play Test cricket, because we play it so scarcely, we’re always learning about how to go about the different tactics; the different periods of the game that you have to manage and how that varies as conditions change. We take a huge amount of learnings from it.”It was a brilliant Test match – the ebbs and flows. There were times where we had to really hang in there and control the rate and obviously jump in when we were in with a sniff. We take a huge amount from it.”England’s Ashes assignment will conclude with a pink-ball Test at the MCG, and Knight may only have been polite when she said it will be, “slightly different” to the Tests they’ve had so far. The teams will have four days between the end of the ODI series on January 25 and the start of the Test on January 30 and, if anything, Knight believes they can learn from the quick turnaround they had in South Africa.Lauren Bell was named player of the match for her eight wickets•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesThere were three days between the end of the ODI series on December 11 and the start of this Test, with travel further cramping their training in between. “The fact that we were able to play like we did with only two days’ preparation should be a thing of confidence for us because obviously that Test match in Australia is going to be exactly the same,” Knight said “That mentality to be able to flip between is a really hard thing to do, so getting more experience of doing that as players will hopefully stand us in good stead.”But Knight and her team will have learned about more than just time between games over the past few days – there’s also time in game, and that is undoubtedly where England were superior. There were two passages of play where England completely took the game away from South Africa: in the second session on day one when they scored 189 runs in 33 overs, at a rate of 5.7, and the third session on day two, when England took 7 for 56 to send South Africa freewheeling from 225 for 3 to 281 all out, to take a 114-run first-innings lead.In the first of those, Maia Bouchier, on debut, and Nat Sciver-Brunt both scored centuries, which underlines how inexperience and experience combined for England.”A couple of days out, Maia was a bit unsure about how she wanted to go about it, purely because of the unknown of not playing any multi-day cricket ever in her life really,” Knight said. “So for her to go out and do that and show the clarity of decision-making, the simpleness that she did, and to bat for long and really make hay in that middle session was a great period for us.Related

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“We were able to capitalise on some poor bowling and to really put the runs on the board and score at a good rate, and that allowed us to control the rest of the game. So kudos to her (Bouchier) and obviously Nat, who goes under the radar sometimes because you expect her to score runs, but a remarkable innings again from her.”In the second innings, another debutant Ryana MacDonald-Gay made important breakthroughs with the old ball which allowed Laurens Bell and Filer to use inswing and pace with the second new ball to unsettle the South African middle- and lower-order.These performances showed Knight the full range of their fast-bowling potential. “They both bring something different, the two Laurens,” she said. “Filer just seems to make things happen, which is amazing. But there’s a real temptation sometimes to want to bowl her longer because you always feel like she’s going to take a wicket when she’s on, but I think she’s at her best when she’s fresh and she bowls sharp spells.”Lauren Bell at the other end was outstanding, the way she was able to control things. It’s a really prime example of the work that she’s done to become a better cricketer and have different skills in her toolbox, and use those skills in different conditions when she needs them. And Ryana as well, special mention for her on debut. She was outstanding. I’m really impressed by her temperament and her character. It’s an exciting place to be, having lots of bowlers, particularly quicks, at our disposal with Australia to come.”Having the players is one thing, but having different ones perform all through a game is another, and Knight was among them. Her second-innings 90 prolonged the South African fielding effort and played its part in fatiguing them, as they were asked to score the highest fourth-innings total in women’s Test history.She knows she did her bit. “I loved contributing today,” she said. “I felt like there were still runs out there and I felt I really needed to stretch the lead a little bit and be in a position where we could dictate and control and attack at the right times, and have enough runs on the board to do that.Maia Bouchier and Nat Sciver-Brunt put on 174 for the third wicket in England’s first innings•ECB/Getty Images”Any time after you’ve fielded for a long time, going back mentally and physically is a really tough thing to do and even harder when you don’t do it very often. That’s why I wanted to score big today, to try and really push that lead up quite high, put a little bit more time into their legs, a little bit more mental fatigue, and also give our bowlers a little bit more of a rest,”In the end, England didn’t need the runs or the time. They finished off South Africa in less than 20 overs and bowled them out for their lowest Test score.”Obviously it happened quite quickly,” Knight said. “We got a bit lucky with a few things and our bowlers were hitting really hard. Once we picked up a few, we felt like we could really capitalise and jump in, and really attack and put them under the pump. It’s a really hard thing to do as a batter when you’re coming in under that sort of pressure.”South Africa know that and have to deal with the fall-out from a massive Test defeat, but it won’t be too harsh. They won’t have another red-ball game in 2025 and new coach Mandla Mashimbyi, contracted until 2027, has time to build his team. So far, he is saying all the right things, especially about the way it ended. “We competed nicely. If I had to take away this last session, the girls actually fought all the way. Maybe our breaking point was just a little bit earlier than the England breaking point. And that’s something that we’re going to have to work on because it’s a mental thing,” he said. “I can promise you now, what we’ve seen here today will never happen again.”But no trees will be ripped up, only seeds planted for a future in which South Africa will play six Tests in the next four years, two against England. Until they meet again…

After two days of intense bidding in Jeddah, here’s what each squad looks like – and where their strengths and weaknesses lie

George Binoy25-Nov-20241:48

Moody: Ghazanfar could be point of difference for Mumbai Indians

.Mumbai IndiansNo. of players 23/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: While MI’s contingent of Indian players is strong, their overseas picks were rather unconventional. Apart from Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner, the other six are untested or haven’t been regular starters in the IPL. England allrounder Will Jacks and fast bowler Reece Topley, South African quick Lizaad Williams and Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar are pretty inexperienced in the league, while New Zealand’s Bevan-John Jacobs and South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton haven’t played in the IPL before.
Possible first 12 (including impact player): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Will Jacks, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Naman Dhir/Robin Minz, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Allah Ghazanfar/Mitchell Santner, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Trent Boult
SQUAD
Batters: Suryakumar Yadav (retained), Rohit Sharma (retained), Tilak Varma (retained), Bevan-John Jacobs
Wicketkeepers: Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Krishnan Shrijith
Allrounders: Hardik Pandya (pace; retained), Naman Dhir (spin; RTM), Will Jacks (spin), Raj Angad Bawa (pace), Vignesh Puthur (spin)
Spinners: Allah Ghazanfar, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner
Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah (retained), Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, Satyanarayana Raju, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams

****

2:04

Moody: Curran poses a left-hand conundrum with bat for CSK

Chennai Super KingsNo. of players 25/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: CSK bought back R Ashwin ten seasons after he last played for them in 2015, reuniting him with Ravindra Jadeja. They further strengthened their spin attack with the addition of Noor Ahmad, and otherwise stacked their squad with allrounders and fast bowlers.They’ve also bought a fair number of players whose IPL careers are in need of a revival: Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Deepak Hooda and Shreyas Gopal.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 2 Devon Conway/Rachin Ravindra, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Shivam Dube, 5 Sam Curran, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (wk), 9 R Ashwin, 10 Noor Ahmad/Nathan Ellis, 11 Khaleel Ahmed/Gurjapneet Singh, 12 Matheesha PathiranaSQUAD
Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad (retained), Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Deepak Hooda, Andre Siddarth
Wicketkeepers: Devon Conway, MS Dhoni (retained), Vansh Bedi
Allrounders: Ravindra Jadeja (spin; retained), Shivam Dube (pace; retained), R Ashwin (spin), Sam Curran (pace), Rachin Ravindra (spin; RTM), Vijay Shankar (pace), Anshul Kamboj (pace), Jamie Overton (pace), Ramakrishna Ghosh (pace)
Spinners: Noor Ahmad, Shreyas Gopal
Fast bowlers: Matheesha Pathirana (retained), Khaleel Ahmed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis

****

5:02

Moody: ‘Bhuvneshwar would probably have mixed emotions’

Royal Challengers BengaluruNo. of players 22/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: RCB bought the explosive Phil Salt to partner Virat Kohli at the top of the order, and also spent a lot of money to acquire two experienced quicks in Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to try and solve their long-standing bowling problem. They have batting reinforcements in the top and middle order and, for the first time in a long time, their line-up doesn’t seem reliant on a few star players.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Liam Livingstone, 4 Rajat Patidar, 5 Krunal Pandya, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk) 7 Tim David/Jacob Bethell, 8 Rasikh Salam, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma/Swapnil SinghSQUAD
Batters: Virat Kohli (retained), Rajat Patidar (retained), Tim David, Manoj Bhandage, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chikara
Wicketkeepers: Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma
Allrounders: Liam Livingstone (spin), Krunal Pandya (spin), Swapnil Singh (spin), Romario Shepherd (pace), Jacob Bethell (spin), Mohit Rathee (spin)
Spinners: Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh
Fast bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal (retained), Rasikh Salam, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi

****

Sunrisers HyderabadNo. of players 20/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: SRH have an explosive top five and a first-choice bowling attack with plenty of pedigree, but the link between those two parts of their line-up is likely to be a bit inexperienced. Also, their back-up overseas players – Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse and Eshan Malinga – have never played the IPL before.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Nitish Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Adam ZampaSQUAD
Batters: Travis Head (retained), Abhinav Manohar, Aniket Verma, Sachin Baby
Wicketkeepers: Heinrich Klaasen (retained), Ishan Kishan, Atharva Taide
Allrounders: Abhishek Sharma (spin; retained), Nitish Kumar Reddy (pace; retained), Kamindu Mendis (spin)
Spinners: Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Zeeshan Ansari
Fast bowlers: Mohammed Shami, Pat Cummins (retained), Harshal Patel, Simarjeet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga

****

Kolkata Knight RidersNo. of players 21/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: KKR retained six players from their title-winning squad in IPL 2024 and bought back six more. They tried to buy back several others as well but couldn’t, having splurged INR 23.75 for Venkatesh Iyer, who could be their new captain. They replaced Salt and Starc with Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje/Spencer Johnson, which may not seem like an upgrade.Their bids for Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane were a bit of a surprise, with their batting styles at odds with KKR’s crash-bang-wallop methods last season.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Quinton de Kock/Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Anrich Nortje/Spencer Johnson, 12 Manish PandeySQUAD
Batters: Rinku Singh (retained), Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane
Wicketkeepers: Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Allrounders: Venkatesh Iyer (pace), Andre Russell (pace; retained), Sunil Narine (spin; retained), Ramandeep Singh (pace; retained), Anukul Roy (spin), Moeen Ali (spin)
Spinners: Varun Chakravarthy (retained), Mayank Markande
Fast bowlers: Harshit Rana (retained), Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Umran Malik

****

3:24

Is Jansen a straight replacement for Curran at PBKS?

Punjab KingsNo. of players 25/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: PBKS spent INR 26.75 crore to buy Shreyas Iyer, who is likely to be their new captain. The influence of their new coach Ricky Ponting was evident in five of their eight overseas players being Australian. Their starting XII will look dramatically different with only Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh and Harpreet Brar likely to feature prominently from last season.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Josh Inglis (wk), 2 Prabhsimran Singh, 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Nehal Wadhera, 7 Shashank Singh, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Harpreet Brar, 10 Yash Thakur/Kuldeep Sen/Vijaykumar Vyshak, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra ChahalSQUAD
Batters: Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh (retained), Nehal Wadhera, Harnoor Singh Pannu, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash
Wicketkeepers: Josh Inglis, Vishnu Vinod, Prabhsimran Singh (retained)
Allrounders: Glenn Maxwell (spin), Marcus Stoinis (pace), Marco Jansen (pace), Harpreet Brar (spin), Azmatullah Omarzai (pace), Aaron Hardie (pace), Musheer Khan (spin), Suryansh Shedge (pace)
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, Pravin Dubey
Fast bowlers: Arshdeep Singh (RTM), Lockie Ferguson, Yash Thakur, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Kuldeep Sen, Xavier Bartlett

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Lucknow Super GiantsNo. of players 24/25 (6 overseas)
Hot take: LSG made history by making Rishabh Pant the most expensive player ever sold at an IPL auction (INR 27 crore) and will likely name him their captain. While they could boast an enviable top six (see below) they didn’t manage to pick up an established Indian opener. Their squad has a wealth of Indian bowling options – pace and spin – so expect them to load their batting line-up with overseas experience.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Mitchell Marsh, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 David Miller, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Abdul Samad, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Mayank YadavSQUAD
Batters: Aiden Markram, David Miller, Ayush Badoni (retained), Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke
Wicketkeepers: Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran (retained), Aryan Juyal
Allrounders: Adbul Samad (spin), Mitchell Marsh (pace), Shahbaz Ahmed (spin), Yuvraj Chaudhary (spin), Rajvardhan Hangargekar (pace), Arshin Kulkarni (Pace)
Spinners: Ravi Bishnoi (retained), M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh
Fast bowlers: Mayank Yadav (retained), Mohsin Khan (retained), Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav

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Delhi CapitalsNo. of players 23/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: Who will lead DC this season – Axar Patel, or their new signing KL Rahul? With Rahul likely to slot in at the top of the order, there are dashers around him and all the way down the DC line-up. Their fast bowling was a concern last season but it looks far more potent this year.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Abishek Porel (wk), 4 Harry Brook, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Ashutosh Sharma, 8 Sameer Rizvi, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 T Natarajan, 12 Mukesh KumarSQUAD
Batters: Jake Fraser-McGurk (RTM), Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs (retained), Faf du Plessis, Karun Nair
Wicketkeepers: KL Rahul, Abishek Porel (retained), Donovan Ferreria
Allrounders: Axar Patel (spin; retained), Ashutosh Sharma (spin), Sameer Rizvi (spin), Darshan Nalkande (pace), Vipraj Nigam (spin), Ajay Mandal (spin), Manvanth Kumar (pace), Tripurana Vijay (spin), Madhav Tiwari (pace)
Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav (retained)
Fast bowlers: Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera

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Rajasthan RoyalsNo. of players 20/25 (6 overseas)
Hot take: After retaining five batters and only one bowler, RR went shopping for many bowlers and picked up quality in Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, though Archer and Hasaranga have been rather injury prone. Their two overseas back-up players are rather low key – Kwena Maphaka and Fazalhaq Farooqi – so IPL 2025 could prove to be a test of their Indian bench strength.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Shubham Dubey/Akash Madhwal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Tushar DeshpandeSQUAD
Batters: Yashasvi Jaiswal (retained), Shimron Hetmyer (retained), Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Wicketkeepers: Sanju Samson (retained), Dhruv Jurel (retained), Kunal Singh Rathore
Allrounders: Riyan Parag (spin; retained), Nitish Rana (spin), Yudhvir Singh (pace)
Spinners: Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Kumar Kartikeya
Fast bowlers: Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma (retained), Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma

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Gujarat TitansNo. of players 25/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: GT did well to pick up three out of 12 marquee players – Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada – and adding Prasidh Krishna to their attack was a coup as well. It’s crucial these players remain fit, though, because their Indian fast-bowling back-up is thin. Their middle order doesn’t have a star cast but GT will hope Washington Sundar will shrug off his indifferent IPL form and have an impactful season with bat and ball.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Sai Sudharsan, 4 Washington Sundar, 5 Sherfane Rutherford/Glenn Phillips, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 M Shahrukh Khan, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Arshad Khan/Sai Kishore/Mahipal Lomror, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Prasidh KrishnaSQUAD
Batters: Shubman Gill (retained), Sai Sudharsan (retained), Rahul Tewatia (retained), Sherfane Rutherford
Wicketkeepers: Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat
Allrounders: Rashid Khan (spin; retained), Washington Sundar (spin), M Shahrukh Khan (spin; retained), Mahipal Lomror (spin), Nishant Sindhu (spin), Arshad Khan (pace), Jayant Yadav (spin), Glenn Phillips (spin), Karim Janat (pace)
Spinners: Manav Suthar, Sai Kishore
Fast bowlers: Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gerald Coetzee, Gurnoor Brar, Ishant Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya

“I hope that I keep getting a lot more,” Jagadeesan says of the India jersey from the Oval Test, which will get pride of place among the jerseys on the walls of his house

Deivarayan Muthu27-Aug-2025Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batter N Jagadeesan frames his various jerseys and puts them up on the wall at his home in Coimbatore. His father CJ Narayan, who played cricket for Tata Electric in Mumbai before the family moved to Coimbatore, had left a frame empty for years, reserving it for his son’s India jersey. Last month, Jagadeesan fulfilled his father’s and his own dream by being part of India’s famous Test win at The Oval, though as a reserve player.”The India jersey is now going into the frame, and I hope that I keep getting a lot more,” Jagadeesan tells ESPNcricinfo. “To be part of a match that was so intense and thrilling made it even more special. For us to go and win the game from a situation where a lot [of people] might not have expected us to, it was really special. It was definitely a moment that gave me goosebumps.”Jagadeesan’s maiden India call-up was reward for his prolific run over the past two Ranji Trophy seasons. During the period, he had racked up 1490 runs in 26 innings at an average of nearly 65. Only Karun Nair has scored more runs (1553) than Jagadeesan across the previous two Ranji seasons, with the benefit of more innings (33), among batters from the Elite Group.

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